LONDON: Angolan crude prices were well-supported by eastern demand on Wednesday, while some Nigerian grades were also trading well due to good winter demand for middle distillates. The continued closure of the North Sea Forties pipeline boosted some prices, but backwardation made West African grades relatively less attractive for long-haul buyers.
ANGOLA
Fewer than 10 cargoes were left from the January loading plan, and demand from China and the Far East helped clear the other cargoes.
State oil firm Sonangol still had its Pazflor cargo, offered at dated Brent minus 50 cents barrel, but all its other cargoes had traded.
The February loading plan was expected early next week.
NIGERIA
Phillips 66 has sold a cargo of Forcados, while a cargo of Usan also traded.
Forcados was offered at around $1.60 per barrel above dated Brent, Bonny Light at plus $1.70 and Qua Iboe offered at plus $1.95 a barrel.
While some Nigerian grades are a good replacement for Forties crude oil, the relatively short two-week outage, paired with steeper backwardation that means oil cargoes are losing value in transit, are expected to limit Nigerian sales.
Fewer than 30 cargoes were left from the January programme, and traders said demand was relatively brisk.
TENDERS
Indian refiner IOC had awarded its tender to buy crude oil with 4 million barrels, a trader said, but further details were unclear.
India's BPCL bought a cargo of US WTI crude oil and 2 million barrels of Oman crude rather than West African grades, traders said.
Two other Indian refiners, MRPL and HPCL, were also running tenders to buy oil with awards expected tomorrow and next week, respectively.
RELATED NEWS
US crude oil stockpiles fell for a fourth straight week with the biggest slump in supplies at the Cushing, Oklahoma hub in eight years, even as crude output hit another weekly record, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
Nigeria is seeking to amend a law on deep offshore oil exploration and drilling, aiming to increase government revenues from crude sales when prices exceed $20 a barrel, the country's oil minister said on Wednesday.
Ineos has begun shutting units at its Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland due to the closure of the Forties pipeline, which threatens to choke off the plant's feedstock, industry sources said on Wednesday.
The refinery takes a large amount of its imported oil from West Africa.
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